


Share a Coke

by albertblithe (Gabbaroni)



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M, Mermaid Joseph Toye, Not-Really-a-Fisherman George Luz, hopefully this is cute, i think it's pretty damn cute, mermaid au, random mermaid magic that I made up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 23:03:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabbaroni/pseuds/albertblithe
Summary: For someone who isn't a fisherman, George Luz manages to make a pretty good catch.





	Share a Coke

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so a completely necessary mermaid AU for LuzToye. I wrote this in a night and had a lot of fun with it! I hope you enjoy!

George is not a fisherman. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but his cousin tells him when to help pull in the net and his uncle lets him sit on the bow of the ship if he doesn’t block his view. He feels bad sorting through the fish; the ones they have to throw back usually die but he feels a little better when his cousin tells him they’re helping feed bigger fish and sharks. Sometimes, when he lets his eyes lazily follow the wake of the boat, he sees the curve and shine of fins splash in the water.  
The boat is floating idly while George’s cousin and uncle take ten minutes to eat lunch and George is sitting at the very tip of the bow watching the water swirl and churn. Mostly, he’s just letting his brain rest for a minute. As he watches, eyes flicking from wave to wave, something reflects just below the surface. He looks and finds a huge fin, blue and silvery, arc across the water and retreat with a splash big enough to splatter his grey sweatshirt and his backwards baseball cap.  
“Holy shit!”  
“What’s up?” his cousin calls to him from the cabin.  
George searches the water as he yells back, “I just saw an enormous fish! Thing must’ve been as big as me!”  
“What really?” Now his cousin comes around to the bow so he can look into the water with him.  
“Yeah, do you guys have tuna around here? Or swordfish?” George is just naming the biggest fish he can think of.  
“No,” his cousin shakes his head and readjusts his cap, “You sure it wasn’t a shark?”  
“I saw scales.” George says.  
“Sucker must’ve been close. Guess he’s following us for the free food.”  
They get back to their work and the boat motors on but George continues to look for the huge fish every time he tosses an unwanted catch over the side. For the next two weeks he has the occasional sighting of the Giant-Ass Fish but no one ever seems to be around to see it. His cousin starts making Moby Dick jokes.

One day the sky is mostly overcast and the boat keeps getting caught in little showers. By noon, the deck is slippery enough that his cousin has fallen on his ass more than once, much to George’s entertainment. Not that George is immune to the virtual slip-n-slide; he stumbles a few times but manages to catch himself before he actually gets hurt. When he and his cousin haul in the net for the fourth time without much success his cousin throws down his hat in frustration and the thing gets whisked into the water. George stretches out to make a grab at it and of course, he misses. He tries again, stretching further and–  
He fucking falls in.  
The boots he’s wearing are heavy and they weigh him down. George can swim, but his flutter kicks aren’t doing him much good and he continues to sink despite his best efforts. Panic hasn’t quite set in yet when he sees it.  
The Giant-Ass Fish.  
He’s weirdly excited for a moment, like he isn’t currently drowning. But then he lets out a yelp, which bubbles uselessly to the surface, as a very pretty man-fish circles him and smiles. He seems to be aiding George’s descent through the water, somehow making a path for him to fall into. His smile is sort of wicked, like he’s pleased George is freaking out, but then his face turns soft. The pretty man-fish circles George again, who tries to spin with him, doesn’t want to let his eyes off of him, but he can’t keep up. The little current he made turns George around to face him; he reaches out and touches George’s lips delicately and only for an instant.  
In the next moment he’s gone, George somehow finds himself sucking in a breath under the water, and he’s resurfacing with a wrenching and painful cough.  
Hands grab at his shoulders and clothes as George is lifted onto the deck of the boat. His uncle and cousin lean over him, smacking his back while he coughs up water. Giving up all at once, George flops down on his stomach and counts every breath he takes. In bed that night, he sleeps for hours and he doesn’t rejoin his cousin and uncle on the boat for a few days.  
A week later, when he’s comfortable enough to think about what happened George recognizes that there is in fact a word for the thing he encountered, and it’s not man-fish. It’s a mermaid. Or merman. Or whatever, gender’s pretty beside the point.  
Are mermaids real? And did he really see one? Is it normal to hallucinate when you think you’re about to die?

George walks along the docks; the sun is hot but the sea breeze makes it pleasant, and George bought a coke from a boardwalk vendor, so he’s feeling pretty good. He ends up strolling down an old, wooden dock. It’s narrow and weathered; nobody tethers their boats there anymore. Placing his coke beside him, George lies down on his stomach, arm hanging over the edge so his fingers dip into the high tide. He watches his hand as it makes tiny currents in the lapping water; the water’s clear and his hand sort of looks like it’s glowing beneath it.  
He spends a long time there, humming idly to himself. A little fish comes along and follows his fingers like a lure; it nips at him and George giggles. What a weird fucking fish.  
George sees the glint of a blue fin a moment before he’s soaked head to toe.  
Recoiling, George sputters and flicks the water from his hair. When he looks up, he sees a pretty smile–it’s the man-fish–mermaid–man! Merman!  
“Holy shit.” George whispers. He knows his eyes have gone wide, but there's no helping it. Holy fuck, a real merman; George can see his tail slip through the water, keeping him balanced, his face is dark and water’s dripping from his hair, off the tip of his nose. George might pass out.  
“Holy shit, yourself.” the merman says.  
Hearing him talk startles George again and he stands and leans away. As if embarrassed, the merman sinks down, only his eyes left above the waterline.  
“Oh my god, dude! You’re a–”  
“Hey, quiet down!” the merman says, swimming up to hold himself to one of the dock’s posts.  
“Sorry!” George yelps, squatting down and getting quiet, “Sorry, it’s just…” then he pauses, wait a minute, “You tried to drown me!”  
“Yeah, and then I changed my mind.” defends the merman. He looks away and then back again before he says, “I wanted to see if you were okay.”  
George shakes his head, what the fuck, dude. “Yeah, I mean, everything still tastes like fish, but I’m fine.” There’s still some resentment in his voice.  
“Look, I’m sorry.” the merman says, “I’ve been following your uncle’s boat for a while, but I’d never seen you before. I was curious.”  
“Curiosity killed the cat.” George tells him.  
“But satisfaction brought it back,” he smiles and laughs a little nervously, “Truce?” He offers George a sopping hand.  
George eyes it skeptically before rolling his eyes. This might as well happen, this is already so goddamn weird. “Truce,” he replies and shakes his hand.  
“Good.” the merman’s smile becomes genuine and warm. His tail snakes around and he pushes off the dock to float on his back for a moment. “My name’s Joe.” he says and turns away like he’s just gonna swim off.  
“Wait!” George calls out, standing up, “Can I see you again? You know, for curiosity’s sake?”  
Joe is several yards out now, from there he looks like just another guy. “Sure,” he says, “meet me here in a week.”  
George watches as a powerful flick of his tail sends Joe down into the water.  
“What the fuck.” George sits down and chugs the rest of his coke.

A week later George is sitting at the dock waiting for his new mer-friend. He sits cross-legged and waits sort of nervously with his hands clasped together. Joe makes an appearance once the tide comes in, he swims up to George and hoists himself up so his arms rest on the dock.  
“Hey.” says George, giving a little unnecessary wave.  
“Hey,” Joe studies him for a moment and says, “are you still freaked out or…?”  
George takes his hat and twists it in his hands, “No, I think I’m good. You can’t really blame me.”  
“No, not really.”  
“So,” George figures it’s best to get everything out on the table, “Your name is Joe and you’re a merman.”  
“Mermaid,” Joe corrects easily, “no one really calls us mermen.”  
“Do you guys have a difference between males and females?”  
“Yes, many.” Joe’s voice is dead pan.  
George has more questions, but maybe he should save them for later. “Okay,” he says instead, “are there lots of you? Mermaids, I mean.”  
Joe shrugs, “There’s some. It’s hard enough to keep a substantial population without you guys fucking ruining our ecosystems and shit.”  
“Hey, I recycle.” George says.  
“Good for you.”  
George’s eye is caught by the flick of Joe’s tail in the water. He says, “And you’ve got a tail like a fish? Not like a shark or a dolphin?” He can’t quite tell what’s intruding here and what’s just… talking to a mermaid for the first time.  
Looking around himself, Joe takes his tail from the water and lets part of it lay out on the dock. For the first time, George can properly see it’s color. It’s a deep blue, and its scales catch the sunlight the same way the fish on his uncle’s boat do. The fin on the end is bigger and thicker than he expected, and it’s all just one lobe, not two like Ariel’s.  
“Can I…?”  
“Yeah, it’s fine.”  
George only touches with his fingertips: the scales feel the way he imagined they would and the tail is all muscle. It’s almost intimidating.  
“Woah…” George doesn’t hear himself say it. He looks over and finds Joe watching him with is chin resting on his laced fingers.  
Joe slides his tail back into the water and says, “Yeah.” He seems to stretch out and George ogles a bit when he sees the tail is way longer than he thought. Although, he guesses that makes sense, really.  
“So, my turn.” Joe says. “First, can I have some of that coke?”  
“What?” George follows Joe’s gaze to the half empty bottle next to him, “Oh, yeah, sure.” He hands it to Joe and watches as his expression brightens and he takes a few sips.  
“Alright,” he says, screwing the top back on, “So, your name is George and you’re a human.”  
“That’s correct.”  
“You wear that stupid hat every time I see you,” Joe snickers at George’s offended reaction, “which makes me think you wear it everyday.”  
“You’re right, but I don’t like your tone.” And that gets a real laugh out of Joe.  
“You got parents?”  
“Yep.”  
“Siblings?”  
“A billion.” George rolls his eyes at the thought, “You?”  
“I have two sisters.” Joe says.  
“They’re mermaids too?” George asks.  
Joe gives him a steady stare, “That’s usually how siblings work.” Then he asks, “So, what are you doing here? I’ve never seen you before.” George watches as he takes another sip of his coke.  
He shrugs, “I’m just visiting for the summer.”  
Joe hums. As the conversation goes on, he becomes more relaxed and open. He doesn’t move his hands when he talks like George does, but when he talks about something likes, he swishes his tail faster. George doesn’t think he even realizes he’s doing it and it’s weirdly cute.  
Well, that thought can’t be good.  
By the time the tide begins to pull out, Joe has drained George’s coke. They’ve been through all the basics but George wants to see Joe again.  
“Same time next week?” he asks as he stands, empty coke bottle in hand.  
Joe looks like he’s deliberating but does eventually nod, “Okay. Next week.” He swims out and waves goodbye before slipping away.

On his way to meet Joe for a third time, George stops and buys two cokes. Joe is there waiting for him this time and he smiles wide when George tosses him the bottle. That becomes the status quo; every week George brings two bottles of coke, Joe picks on him for something or other, and George does everything he can to make him laugh. Joe always drains his bottle and George always recycles them. He still has lots of questions.  
“Are you warm blooded or cold blooded?”  
“Warm, we tend to live in little coves, sunbathe a lot.”  
“Are you all scaly?”  
“Not all.”  
“Can you grow legs?”  
Joe smirks around the rim of his coke bottle and says, “That’s a secret.”  
And one time: “So. Mer-dudes. Do you guys have–”  
“You really wanna ask me that?” Joe glares at him. There’s nothing said for a short while and then, “…Yes.”  
George ends up in a fit of giggles. Joe splashes him.

Sometime later in the summer, George is lying on his back, baseball cap pulled over his eyes, when Joe says, “You know, you suck at swimming.”  
“What?” George sounds incredulous, “Are you saying this to the guy you tried to drown?”  
“Doesn’t make it any less true.”  
George rolls onto his side and finds himself face to face with Joe, “My boots were heavy.” he objects.  
Joe mocks him, “My boots were heavy.”  
“Alright,” George says, sitting up, “Mr. Mermaid, why don’t you teach me how?”  
Joe hums and then smiles, “I can do that.”  
“What? Really?”  
“Yeah,” Joe shrugs, “I can take you to a place I know.”  
“That sounds dangerous,” George laughs at him.  
“Do you wanna learn or not?”  
George has never had a real interest swimming before. On the other hand, he’s never had a real interest in a mermaid before either.  
“I don’t have my trunks,” is what he says.  
“Strip down then.”  
“No!” George looks at Joe like he’s fucking crazy, “I’m not getting naked!”  
“I’m naked!” Joe counters.  
“It’s not the same, fish boy!”  
Joe laughs at George a little under his breath. Even so, George stands and grumbles, looking around before wiggling out of his shoes and jeans. In just his boxers and t-shirt George gives Joe a stupid smile, sprints to the end of the dock, and jumps in head first.  
Under the water, he flips a few times and comes up to a reluctant grin on Joe’s face.  
“Come on.” Joe leads George away slowly. Even then, it’s everything George has to just keep up with him. It occurs to him that this could have all been an elaborate scheme to get George alone. He wonders what would be worse, the heartbreak or the actual drowning.  
But Joe doesn’t seem to want to kill him and eventually they arrive in a little inlet. George slumps onto the sand, what the fuck is the point of teaching George to swim if they had to swim three miles to get here?  
Joe stays in the shallow water, supported on his elbows. George flops onto his back and catches his breath, listening to Joe laughing at him.  
“You’re shitty at this.” he says.  
“You’re shitty at being encouraging.”  
Joe manages to lie beside George whose shirt is sticking to him, his hair plastered to his forehead. He’s a floppy mess. When George looks over, he’s greeted with the pretty sight of Joe, eyes closed to the sun. His skin is golden and he’s so close, George can feel it’s warmth. He watches water bead and roll down his sides. Sunbathing is a good look on Joe.  
They stay there while George gets his energy back. The sun is setting but once George is up for it, Joe leads him out to deeper water.  
“Nothing’ll mess with you while I’m around,” he says.  
He takes George’s hand in his own and guides him down into the water, deeper than George would normally go. Joe turns and takes a hold of George’s waist beneath his shirt; he keeps him there, just above him, as George’s body tries to float away. He’s smiling, George can see it, and somehow he looks illuminated like this. He’s so beautiful in the water.  
Joe touches his lips with a gentle hand, the same way he had the very first time, and George takes in a breath of water before he realizes he won’t be getting a swimming lesson today. He laughs as Joe pulls him close. His clothes and his hair are floating around him but Joe looks as natural as anything.  
He touches George’s face as he kisses him and that feels as natural as anything.  
Joe’s smile isn’t shy, but it’s soft where it touches George’s lips. George touches Joe’s face, his shoulders, puts his fingers through his hair; he pulls Joe in to kiss him again and a laugh bubbles from his mouth.


End file.
